Guard the Hedges

# 259 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 18:9-11, “So Saul eyed David from that day forward. 10 And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul's hand. 11 And Saul cast the spear, for he said, "I will pin David to the wall!" But David escaped his presence twice.” The envy of Saul, opened the gate for the distressing spirit that God allowed to torment Saul. Understand something about the enemy of your soul. He is constantly poking, prodding, looking for an opening. Something by which he might get a foothold, which he then desires to turn into a stronghold, that he might conquer and enslave you. No wonder the Holy Spirit reminds us to put on the full armor of God. Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” One of the wiles of the devil is envy. Guard against it. In the 80th Psalm, the psalmist complains against God by saying, “Why have You broken down her hedges, so that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit.” He was speaking of the general spiritual condition of Israel. But the reality of that statement is the people themselves allowed the hedges to deteriorate. They refused to keep the commandments of the Lord. The biblical idea of “keeping” is to put a hedge around something to protect it, because it is valuable When the people chose to not treasure God's Word, the hedge was broken down and they became easy prey for their enemies. This is God's doing only so far as He tells us in His Word that when we cease to value His covenant, His Word, we forfeit any claim to His protection. Thankfully, in His mercy and forbearance, He only allows that breach to go so far, as He leads us to repentance. The enemy will be probing, prodding today, looking for openings, seeking whom he may devour. Our surest defense is to daily repent of our sins and keep the hedge up. Let us purpose in our hearts to treasure His Word today and every day. Father, let us never weary of keeping up our defenses, by submitting to You and Your Word.